What if The Good Old Days Aren’t Really So Good?

It’s All About The Good ‘New Days’, Mamas! Let’s Hear It For The Next Generation!

I’m starting a revolutionary way of thinking. I don’t want to hear about how “good” the good old days were, because I have decided they weren’t as good as now – aka the New Days.

Aunts/Uncles/parents/anyone over 45 years of age, are profoundly talented at reminding me how messed up today’s generation is and the kicker comes when they add: “And it’s only getting worse.”

I used to believe them. I used to weep in despair at the four little humans that are my responsibility, who somehow will end up iPad obsessed and jobless. I used to weep in despair at the notion that my marriage was going to fail because feminism. I used to weep in despair because my children’s manners did not reflect ‘the good old days’.

And then I had an epiphany.

What if, back then, these very people critiquing my generation were also doing a crap job? What if, through the better use of the word of old age, they have forgotten all the crap things that occurred during their child-raising-days and only have space in their mind for the running-through-daisies imagery?

Surely, kids have not changed that much. Surely, their own kids were jerks too, and sometimes refused to say Please and Thank You and I hated Cauliflower with a passion. Surely, they were addicted to the equivalent of the mass hysteria known as the apple technology we have today.

“So, my dear mama’s, I’ve done the research** and it’s all clear now. THEY ARE LYING”.

Firstly, we have seatbelts. That we MUST use, and hmmm let me see – this saves lives! We have opportunities for women that would’ve seem alien to women back in the Good Old Days. Doctors and ultra smart people have the amazing ability to let people hear and see through medical miracles/technology that have only come because of the New Days.

We have a brilliant way to communicate with our dear friends and family and who the heck even cares no one receives snail mail anymore? When my 10 year old face lights up because he is having an exchange of emails with his grandfather, 12000kms away, that’s all that matters.

We have access to a hundred different nationalities at any given time. How wonderful for our children to be face to face with diversity every single day. Even Dora the Explorer is brilliant, my son can Hola at me anytime!

Education is at an all time high. My daughter has opportunities to rock the corporate world or not. She can consider her options, because guess what? SHE HAS SOME.

Haters go on about how kids, these days, are not able to appreciate the value of things – I’m 33 and still working on that ability. Yet somehow today’s generation is “missing out” because they are not drinking out of hoses in the garden – ummm hello, polyvinyl chloride and phthalates! – Coca Cola is banned – woohoo! – and children are able to intelligently work their brains during a game of Minecraft.

Haters of the New Days also reflect on the need for a calm. “Reclaim the old fashioned parenting style”, I hear them say. Look, I’m all for manners, politeness and using a hankerchief but education has taught me that certain other things outweigh in importance levels. Hanging out with my kid, for example, is a common occurrence. Versing my kid on the Chess App. Introducing them to the notion of real history – white people were not the first settlers in Australia and the Dark Ages weren’t so Dark. Finally, I work all day long on creating a human that is not a jerk (and that’s being frank).

I have one word for these negative people. Moderation. Sure, fresh air is vital. That’s why my kid has a balanced lifestyle*** and that doesn’t include the need to ride on the handle bars of their friends’ bike. That includes being stern about slip, slop slap. What mattered 50 years ago and what happens today is very different. Instead of wondering how you could contact your child after missing curfew, we worry about cyber Bullying.

“John Becker, a marriage and family therapist in Plymouth, says that the main goal of parenting is still the same as to what it was 25 years ago – to instill character and moral development in children. The focus of how to do so, is what has changed”.

Anyway, I bet my bottom dollar that no parent wants to hear about how amazing “back then” was and how corrupt and awful today is. No parent wants to hear how they’re doing an awful job with their children. Here’s the thing – Nostalgia is different.

How about appreciating the greatness of today and taking the good bits of yesterday?

Maysaa was born in Lebanon, but her parents moved to Melbourne where she stayed for 24 years. In 2012, her little family moved to Dubai and the magical, crazy, unique, sandy adventure began along with her blog 365 Days in Dubai. Currently, she chairs the board of the Islamic Museum of Australia.